Sticks and Stones
by MissTuffcy
Summary: "Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words shall never hurt me." All he wanted was acceptance but all he got was rejection. Can a new kid bring him salvation? AU


MissTuffcy: I don't even remember where I got this idea from but I think it was from my grandma telling me that saying when I was younger.

Summary: Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. All he wanted was acceptance. All he got was rejection. Kurama has suffered all his life from bullying. Will this new kid in town be his salvation?

Disclaimer: All Yuu-Yuu Hakusho characters, places, and references to the show does not belong to me. They belong to the sole creator/writer of Yuu-Yuu Hakusho.

Warnings: Language (I guess)

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Sticks and Stones

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At the age of 6, Kurama Minamino had been diagnosed as a genius. At this age, he was already reading books that were intended for ages 10+. He already knew basic math and he could write about what he read as well. His mother, Shiori Minamino, was proud of him; so very proud that she had such a smart young man. She would have loved him no matter what. What had her alittle scared was the fact her son didn't seem interested in what little boys usually were. Instead, he seemed to be more feminine. Though, she would love her son no matter what. She had bought him a stuffed white stuffed fox with a rose in its mouth when he was very young. He carried it around where ever he went. To this day, he still never left without it with him.

Besides that, the boy was in love with flowers. Whenever Shiori bought him something new like a book bag or shirt, he always requested that there be flowers on it. So, His book bag was floral, his binder, pencils, everything! He even asked that his mother let him keep his hair long. As he grew older, she noticed how much he actually looked like a female. It frightened her that her son might turn out to be gay. It didn't frighten her so much that he would be _gay. _It was just that she wanted grandchildren but knew she may not get them if her son was gay.

She kept her fears to herself and continued to raise her boy. The day they went to the park, he was about 8 then. He always wore his hair out long down and flowing over his shoulders. He had pointed to a young girl with a ribbon in her hair that had a rose on it. He looked up to his mother and asked her if he could have one like that. Like any parent who loved their child to no end, she did as he requested. She still had her fears.

When he reached the age of 10, her worries and fears grew. The boy would sometimes come home crying. He said that the other kids were saying mean things about him. Shiori had silently rocked the boy back and forth and shushed him gently. Quietly she had said, "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me." Her son looked up at her quietly and stared. She smiled as he wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled back up at her.

* * *

Kurama slowly made his way into school. He looked both ways around the courtyard to make sure no one was there. He gave a sigh of relief and hurried inside of the school and to his classroom. The teacher turned when she heard someone enter. She smiled. "Good morning, Kurama." Kurama smiled at her.

"Good morning, Mrs. May."

"Remember when you told me you wanted to study the rocks like Geologists do?" She asked. Kurama nodded with a smile. "Well, my husband is coming today to talk to you guys about it."

"Really?" Kurama asked excitedly. Mrs. May nodded.

"I've told him a lot about you and he'll be happy to show you around the place that he usually works at."

"Thank you, Mrs. May." The bell rung signally school starting. Kids poured into the classroom. A couple of boys sat directly in front of Kurama and he frowned. One of them yanked on his hair and laughed.

"How are you today, girly-boy?" The boy who pulled his hair asked. The one sitting next to him laughed.

After two of Science, the bell rung to signal the end of the second period. The Science class lasted two hours. The teacher had the class line up. Kurama made sure he was in the very back. Mrs. May lead them out of the class room and to their Math class. The students in the class walked out and followed Mrs. May. When Kurama's class walked into the room, everyone took their seats. Kurama made his way to the back of the class and someone stuck their foot out. He tripped and tumbled to the floor. The whole class erupted in laughter. Kurama's face flushed red in embarrassment. He quickly got up and made his way to the back of the class. Tears stung at his eyes and put his head down on the desk.

The teacher was at the front of the room explaining how to do box multiplication. Kurama had already grasped how to do it from the first time the teacher explained it. She handed out a test, telling everyone to do their best. Kurama finished his in 10minutes while everyone else dragged on. The teacher walked out the room briefly and the boy sitting in front of him turned to look at him.

"Let me see your paper." He demanded more than asked. Kurama handed him the finished test and the boy copied his answers. He turned back around and handed the paper back to Kurama without a thank you. Kurama sunk slightly in the chair. The teacher came back into the room.

"Kurama, your mother is dropping off your lunch next period."

After Math, the class was led to Social Studies. The class passed by rather quickly with no incident. Kurama's mother had dropped off his lunch at the end of his social studies period. He went to lunch. The bag he had was still hot which meant that his mother had recently bought it. He went outside and sat down under a tree to eat his lunch. He looked through his bag and found that his mother had bought him a chicken sandwich, a juice pouch, and a zip-lock bag of 6 chocolate chip cookies. Kurama pulled out the sandwich and took a bite of it. When he finished his lunch, he pulled a book out of his bag. He looked up when he heard someone walk up to him. The large boy grinned down at Kurama darkly.

"Got anything for me, girly-boy?" The boy asked. Kurama handed the boy the zip-lock bag of 4 chocolate chip cookies. He snatched the bag from him and walked away. "Next time bring something better." The boy called over his shoulder. Kurama stayed silent and looked back down at the book in his hand. He looked up when the book in his hands was snatched away.

"Whatcha reading, girly-boy?" It was another boy from his class. Kurama stayed silent. "The joys of Science?" He laughed. A crowd had gathered around. "So not only are you a girly-boy, you're also a nerd too." The crowd around him laughed. Kurama's eyes stung.

"Please give me my book back…" Kurama said quietly. The boy grinned down at him.

"You want it back, huh?" He ripped the book in half and threw it to Kurama. Kurama's eyes burned as tears threatened to fall. "Look, it looks like nerdy girly-boy here is gonna cry!"

"He's such a sissy!" someone cried from the crowd which had everyone laughing. The boy yanked the bracelet from off of Kurama's wrist when he noticed it. Kurama cried out in shock.

"Give that back!" Kurama stood up to snatch it from the taller boy, but he held it up higher than Kurama could reach. The boy pushed him back down and laughed.

"Wassamatter girly-boy? Where'd ya get this thing from anyway?" The boy pulled on it and it broke more. "Opps!" everyone laughed. Tears streamed down Kurama's face. His mother gave him that bracelet and had told him his father had bought it just for him before he had passed away. Now this jerk in front of his destroyed the last thing of his father's possessions that was given to him. Kurama jumped at the boy and tackled him to the ground, trying his best to wrestle the pieces out of his hand. The boy under him was shocked but quickly took on an angry expression. "Get off you nerd!" He rolled them over and punched Kurama in the nose. He got up off him when Kurama let go held his hands to his face.

"That'll teach him!" Someone cried from the crowd. Everyone laughed. "Girly-boy got his ass kicked!" Another yelled. The boy grinned down at the sobbing redhead and threw the pieces of the bracelet on Kurama. Everyone walked away when the bell rung. Kurama stayed there for a while before picking himself up. He walked straight to the nurse to get an ice back for his bruising nose. He was glad it wasn't broke.

* * *

Kurama got home and ran straight to his mother. His mother hugged him and frowned. "They broke father's bracelet!" Kurama sobbed into his mother's chest. Shiori picked him up a little difficultly and walked to the kitchen. She sat him up on the counter where he continued to sniffle and let out short sobs. She took the broken pieces of the bracelet.

"I'll get it fixed, don't fret my little one." She said. She kissed him on the temple and smiled. She frowned slightly when she noticed the bruising on his nose. "What happened?" she walked to the freezer and took out some ice before going to the closet next to it to fetch a clean rag. Putting the ice in the rag, she walked back to her son and handed it to him. He took it and held it to his nose.

"The boy who broke the bracelet hit me when I tried to get it back." Shiori's eyes widened but then narrowed. She let out a low growl.

"This has to stop now! I'm going to go with you to school tomorrow and have a chat with them. They shouldn't have been allowed to do this! They should have someone watching these rowdy kids." She helped her son down from the counter and he followed after her. "Do you have any homework?" Kurama shook his head. Shiori nodded. "Sweetie, your aunty Atsuko is coming over soon." Kurama looked confused. Shiori chuckled. "You were really young when she came around the first time. She's actually moving here now. She has a son around your age." Kurama nodded.

* * *

Yusuke growled in frustration as his mother yelled at him again for just sitting there. "You can at least help unpack, Yusuke!" Yusuke grunted and turned.

"Yusuke…" Yusuke turned to look at his father, Raizen. Atsuko stood next to him with her arms crossed, glaring at him. "Help out a little more than what you are now?"

"I didn't want to move! I was happy where we were!"

"We had to! Your father got a pro-"

"I KNOW!" Yusuke yelled. "Now I'll have to make new friends and shit!"

"Watch your language!" Atsuko growled. Yusuke turned from them with an hmphed.

"You'll have your cousin." Raizen said. Atsuko nodded.

"He is a sweet boy, you two will get along nicely." Yusuke shrugged.

* * *

The next day for Kurama was uneventful. His mother had talked to his teachers and the principle and they had promised to keep a closer eye on the students at lunch. Kurama found himself sitting under a tree at lunch. He had taped his book back together and his bracelet was fixed. He sat his book down and picked up his sandwich. He looked up when he heard footsteps. "Hey, can I sit with you?" It was someone he hadn't seen around before. He nodded and the boy sat across from him. "Is that a chicken sandwich?" Kurama's hurt sank. "Can I get a piece? The school lunch here sucks!" Kurama nodded and broke a piece off from the bottom. "Thanks!" He perked up a bit. "My name is Yusuke, what's yours?"

"Kurama."

"That's a pretty name." Yusuke grinned. Kurama blushed and thanked him. "So why are you here alone? Don't you have a boyfriend or something? Some friends? Girl pals?" Kurama shook his head. "Well, guess what!" Kurama frowned.

"What?"

"You're my new girlfriend!" Yusuke grinned at him. Kurama's eyes widened.

"But I'm not-" The bell rang and Yusuke hopped up. Kurama stood. "Yusuke, I'm not a-"

"C'mon! Don't want to make my new girl late for class!" Yusuke grinned. Kurama sighed and gave up with telling him. He'd find out eventually and then start hating him for it. Yusuke grabbed his hand and dragged him along with him. They parted ways to get on line with their class.

Yusuke had built up quite a reputation already for the first day of school. His looks just screamed not to be messed with. He barked at the few people who tried to take advantage of him being new. They were taught a lesson with a quick jab to the jaw. Yusuke grinned in triumph. All he needed was a cute girlfriend and it'd be just like it was back when he was at his old school. And luck was on his side when he saw a cute girl sitting alone at lunch. He had approached her and made it known to her that she was his new girlfriend. She didn't really protest but she had kept trying to tell him something. He wondered what it was.

The next day, Yusuke found out that he was switched to his 'girlfriend's class. He was excited. When he walked into the class room. A lot of the students begged him to sit next to them. He sat in the front next to Kurama and smiled at him. At lunch, Kurama sat in his usual place. He was eating his sandwich when he looked up to see who was standing over him.

"Hey, girly-boy! I see you were holding out on me! You did have something better than a damn cookie!" A crowd gathered around. "Gonna give it up. Girly-boy?"

"What's going on over here?" Yusuke asked as he came over. He noticed the way Kurama looked to be on the verge of tears. 'How dare they mess with my girl!' he yelled angrily in his head.

"Hey Yusuke! We were just about to give ole girly-boy here another lesson." The boy grinned. Yusuke furrowed his brow.

"Girly-boy?" He looked at Kurama who had tears in his eyes. 'That must be what she…I mean he was trying to tell me.' Yusuke mused. He turned back to the crowd. "Get lost and leave him alone!" He growled. Kurama's eyes widened and he looked at Yusuke. The boy's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You heard me, piggy! Leave him the hell alone! Get lost before I kick your ass!" Yusuke hissed. The boy scurried away and the crowd disbursed. Yusuke kneeled down next to Kurama. "You okay?" Kurama nodded. "Hey, do you walk home or get a ride?"

"Sometimes my mom comes to get me." Kurama said quietly. "If she can't, my mom's friend comes."

"How about I ask my dad to give you a ride home, huh? I don't want those assholes messing with you." Yusuke stood up when the bell rung. He helped Kurama up. Kurama smiled up at him and nodded. Yusuke grinned. "Good." He kept a hold on Kurama's hand and led him to their class line. A lot of the students were giving them odd looks. Yusuke glared at them and Kurama ignored them. He finally had a friend that cared.

At the end of school, Yusuke and Kurama waited for Yusuke's dad. A silver Honda pulled up in front of them. The window rolled down to reveal Atsuko. "Mom?"

"Your dad had to go to- OH MY GOD! Kurama?" Atsuko hopped out the car and ran around to hug Kurama. "Kurama! It's been so long! You've grown so much!" She squealed. Yusuke frowned. Kurama looked up at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke asked.

"Yusuke, this is your cousin!" Atsuko announced. Yusuke shuddered. 'I almost went out with my cousin…' "I'm aunty Atsuko!" Kurama's eyes widened. He smiled up at the lady. "I'm going to call your mom and tell her I'll pick you up." Kurama nodded.

* * *

A few hours later, Kurama was in his house. His mother was in the kitchen. He walked in and Shiori turned and smiled. "How was school sweetie? Did anyone mess with you today?" Kurama nodded. Shiori frowned.

"But, I met my cousin today. He's really nice. He made them stop messing with me. He's in my class too." Kurama said cheerfully. Shiori smiled.

"That's wonderful news, sweetie." Kurama walked up stairs to his room. He looked at the pieced of paper with the words 'Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me'. He shook his head. He pulled a marker out from his bag and crossed out the last part and wrote something else.

'_Sticks and stones may break my bones and words shall always hurt me.'

* * *

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_Review please._


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